It’s Results Day! For those of you receiving your results today, a big well done for all your accomplishments! If your next step is university then there may be lots of new things jumping into your head. You may be thinking about packing and about your new room mates. It can become a little stressful but no need to worry! Below is a university checklist of all the little tasks you need to do (or can do) before you get to university so you are prepared.
Get you packing done early and don’t pack too much
Packing is one of them devious tasks that no one likes doing, so it’s better to get it done early. This is also avoids rushing to get things washed before you go. It is likely that you will need to pay for your washing to be done when you get to university halls, so make sure you do go with clothes already washed.
Packing early also makes sure that you have plenty of time to add things and take things out of your bag that you may not need. Which leads me onto how much to pack. It is great to take loads of things but a key problems with freshers is that they overpack way too much! Storage space in university rooms is limited so you don’t want to end up having too many clothes that they don’t fit into your wardrobe. Pack light is best as it means you can always go back home to collect anything else you might like. It also gives you room to pick up a few new things when yuo get there.
Check what is already in the kitchen
Sometimes it maybe that basic kitchen appliances will already be provided in the kitchen for you. The chances are there will be a microwave and the usual cupboard items like a mop and broom. But you may need to discuss with your flatmates about a kettle, toaster and cleaning appliances so that you do not turn up and there are 4 kettles in the kitchen – for one, you don’t need them all and secondly, there will not be enough space. Some students wait and sort this out when everyone is there.
In order to check what is already in the kitchen it is easy enough to get in touch with the university accommodation services or the accommodation company provider that manages the building. It’s so worth getting in touch with the accommodation managers because you don’t want to move to university and take up space in the car with kitchen appliances that are already there. It would be even more inconvenient would be to have spent money on the appliances that are already there for you.
Find out who your housemates are
What will help you prepare for what is already in the kitchen and what will be in the kitchen, is to get in touch with your future housemates or flatmates. The easiest way to go about this is to get on your accommodation Facebook page and send in a comment of what flat number you are, usually they will do the same and from there you can set up your own group chat. It’s great to know who you are living with before you move in so you can get the initial conversations out of the way. Hopefully, it will help settle any nerves you may have on the run up to that move in day.
I have seen students meet up with their new flatmates prior to moving in to get to know each other so this is always an option.
Check your timetable
Granted, I’m sure you will have looked into your course time and time again, but it is so worth doing because as we will discuss later there may be some work you need to do prior to starting your course. In addition, to this there might be some other suggestions that your course leaders suggest you engage in some other activities that may be useful for the beginning of your course. Further to this it is definitely beneficial to take a look at who the tutors are on your course, so you can put a face to the name before you embark on your university journey.
Make sure you check your course timetable and your induction timetable which may be different things.
Do any pre-work
As mentioned before this, there may be some pre-work activities that need completing before you begin your course. I personally had a huge shock when I got to my flat on move-in day, and my new flatmates made me aware that there may be some pre-work for me to do. Therefore, it is so important that you do it, but also be aware of it in the first place. Often the pre-work isn’t that challenging and it is only designed to give you a little bit of a reminder of what you have already learned and also a taste of what you are going to learn. Some universities choose to have an induction week which can involve some work external to your course. It may be environmental related, this can also be introduced in your pre-work. At the very least, completing your pre-work will put you in good stead when meeting your new tutors.
Search the societies and sports clubs
There are lots of societies and sports clubs out there at universities, you must take a look at them because there is something for everyone. Looking at them in advance will make your society and sports club fair in the first week a lot easier too. It’s very busy as you can expect, so if you already know which ones you want to get involved with, it can save you an awful lot of time. When searching what societies and sports clubs are available it can often be beneficial to expand your searches to Instagram and Facebook as opposed to university websites. Looking on social media gives you a proper insight into what the club or society is like as yuo can see the events they have done in the past few years.
Final thoughts
University is very exciting time and it is great if you can take all these tips on board! Nevertheless, there are many more things that you will encounter on your university journey and some you will not be aware of and some you will. However, the main thing is to make sure that you enjoy your time and approach this with an open mind. Be sure not to judge people before you meet them because I know from personal experience some of my greatest friends came from university and without university we wouldn’t have met!
Well done again on your results!
